Rosa Bonheur

87/

Keep Your Card in This Pocket

Books will be Issued only on prarontatian of proper

library catrds,

Unleu labeled otherwise, books may be retained
lor two weeks* Borrowers finding books marked, de-
laced or mutilated am expected to report same at
library desk; otherwise th@ last borrower will be held
responsible lor all imperfections discovered.

The card holder ii responsible for 11 books drawn
cm this c&rd*

Pw&alty tor over-due books 2c a day plus oot of
notices,

^jrd^ ai^i change dE riidnc^ murife be re-
promptly.

Public Library

Kansas City, Mo.

114* 01170" 3063

MASTERPIECES'
IN COLOUR;

EDITED BY -
M. HENRY ROUJON

ROSA BONHEUR

(18x1-1899)

IN THE SAME SERIES

REYNOLDS LE BRUN

VELASQUEZ " CHARDIN

GREU2E MILLET

TURNER RAEBURN

BOTTICELLI SARGENT

ROMNEY CONSTABLE

REMBRANDT MEMLING

BELLINI FRAGONARD

PRA ANGELICO DURER

ROSSETTI LAWRENCE

RAPHAEL HOGARTH

LEIGHTON WATTEAU

HOLMAN HUNT MURILLO

TITIAN WATTS

MILLAIS INGRES

LUINI COROT

FRANZ HALS DELACROIX

CARLO DOLCI FRA LIPPO LIPPI

GAINSBOROUGH PUVIS DE CHAVANNES

TINTORETTO MEISSONIER

VAN DYCK GEROME

DA VINCI VERONESE

WHISTLER VAN EYCK

RUBENS FROMENTIN

BOUCHER MANTEGNA

HOLBEIN PERUGINO

BURNE-JONBS HENNER

PLATE I. THE UON MEDITATING
(Rosa Bonhcur Museum)

According to artists, the lion is the most difficult of all animals to
paint, on account of the prodigious mobility of his physiognomy.
Rosa Bonheur was able, thanks to her inimitable art, to catch and
reproduce the fugitive facial expressions of the kingly beast,
expressions that the artist succeeded in securing during a visit to a
certain menagerie, and which she managed to record with a most
surprising vigour and fidelity.

',-, ;<,; ^

,' 'V , V?

ld
'

tei^^v^Sll>M^ii

R

A

BONHEUR

BY FR. CRASTRE

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH
BY FREDERIC TABER COOPER

ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT
REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR

01
SCMPITCflHIJH.

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
NEW YORK PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

Pn*t*d i* the U#M Stetes &f Am&ie*

452248

CONTENTS

Childhood and Youth ....... zx

The First Successes ..... . . 22

The Years of Glory ....... 45

vii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Plate

I. The Lion Meditating .... Frontispiece

Bonheur Muaeum

II. The Ass ........ 14

Rosa Bonheur Studio, at By

III. The Horse Fair ....... 34

National Gallery, London

IV. Ploughing in the Nivernais 34

Luxembourg Museum, Pan*

V* Ossian's Dream ....... 40

Psyrai Collection

VI. The Duel ...*.... 5

CoOectioa of Memcs, LA&VTK, Loodoa

VII. Tigers 60

Rout PunlTcag" Stti^tts *t Bfy

VIII . Trampling the Grain ..** 70

CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH

IN 1821, a young painter of brilliant promise was
living in Bordeaux. His name was Raymond
Bonheur. But the fairies who presided at Ms birth
omitted to endow him with riches, in addition to
talent. The hardships of existence compelled him to
relinquish his dreams of glory and to pursue the irk-
some task of fflmmg his daily bread* The artist

XX

12 ROSA BONHEUR

became a drawing master and went the rounds of
private lessons. Among his pupils he made the
acquaintance of a young girl, Mile. Sophie Marquis,
as penniless as himself, but attractive and gentle, full
of courage, and displaying exceptional ability in music.
A similarity of tastes and opinions drew these two
artistic natures toward each other. They fell in love,
and the marriage service united their destinies.

The young couple started upon married life with
no other fortune than their mutual attachment and
equal courage. He continued to teach drawing and
she gave lessons in music. But before long she was
forced to put an end to these lessons in order to
devote herself to new duties. Indeed, it was less
than a year after their marriage, namely on the 16th
of March, 1822, that a little girl was born into the
world: this little girl was Rosalie Bonheur, better
known under the name of Rosa Bonheur.

It is not surprising in such an artistic environ-
ment, that the child's taste should have undergone

ef

PLATE II. THE ASS
(Rosa Bonheur Studio* at By)

ROSA Bonheur was inimitable in the art of seizing the expression
on the face of an animal. Here, for instance, is a study of an ass
which makes quite a charming picture. Note the admirable render-
ing of the animal's attitude, which is half obstinacy and half resig-
nation, while the worn-out body weighs ao heavily on the shrunken

ROSA BONHEUR 15

a sort of obscure, yet undoubted impregnation. From
the time that she began to understand, she heard
art and nothing else discussed around her; her
first uncertain steps were taken in her father's
studio, and her first playthings were a brush and a
palette laden with colours,

Rosalie could hardly walk before she was drawing
and painting everywhere. Later on, she gave a
spirited account of this:

" I was not yet four years old when I conceived
a veritable passion for drawing, and I bespattered
the white walls as high as I could reach with my
shapeless daubs: another great source of amusement
was to cut objects oat of paper. They were always
the same, however: I would begin by making long
paper ribbons, then with my scissors; I would cot
out, in the first place, a shepherd, and alter him a
dog, and next a cow, and next a ship, and next a
tree, invariably in the same order. I have spent
many a kyg day at $$*& pastime."

16 ROSA BONHEUR

The Bonheurs had, at this time, formed a close
friendship with a family by the name of Silvela, but
the latter left Bordeaux in 1828 in order to assume
the direction of an institute for boys in Paris. The
separation did not break off their intercourse. They
corresponded frequently and in every letter the Silve-
las urged Raymond Bonheur to come and join them
in Paris where, they said, he would find an easier
and more remunerative way of employing his talent.
These repeated appeals strongly tempted the man,
but a journey to Paris, at this epoch, was not an
easy matter. Besides, his family had increased to
the extent of two more children: Auguste Bonheur,
born in 1824, and Isidore Bonheur, born in 1827.
At last, after much hesitation, he made up his mind
to set forth alone to try his luck, prepared to return
home if he did not succeed.

He went directly to the Silvelas' in the capacity
of instructor of drawing j the families of some of the
pupils took an interest m *>I*P and obtained him

ROSA BONHEUR 17

opportunities. Geoffrey Saint-HHaire, the great
naturalist, entrusted him with the execution of a
large number of plates for a natural history. If not
a fortune, this was at least an assured living. Ac-
cordingly, Bonheur decided to transfer his entire
household to Paris.

They joined him in 1829 and were installed in
the Rue Saint-Antoine.

Little Rosa, who was then seven years old, was
no sooner settled in Paris, than she was placed to-
gether with her brothers in a boys* school which
happened to be located in the same house where
the Bonheurs lived.

Being brought up with young boys of her own
age, she acquired those boyish manners that she
retained throughout life, and to which she owes,
without the slightest doubt, that virile mark which
was destined to characterize her painting. She used
to go with her comrades, during recess, to play in
the Place Royale. "I was the ring-leader in all

i8 ROSA BONHEUR

the games and I did not hesitate, when necessary,
to use my fists."

The revolution of 1830 ensued and Rosa wit-
nessed it develop beneath ^the windows of her
father's dwelling. These were evil hours and the
Bonheur family suffered in consequence. Lessons
became rarer and the pinch of poverty was felt
within the household, which was forced to migrate
again to No. 30 Rue des Tournelles, a large seven-
teenth century mansion, solemn and gloomy, of
which Rosa must have retained the worst possible

memories had it not chanced that it was here

jt

she acquired a little comrade, Mile. Micas, who
was destined to become, subsequently, her best
friend.

The years which followed were equally unfortu-
nate for Raymond Bonheur: Paris had hardly re-
covered from the shock of the Revolution, when
m 1832 the cholera made its appearance. There
was no further question of lessons, for everyone

ROSA BONHEUR 19

thought solely of his own safety; the rich fled from
the city, the others remained closely housed in
order to avoid the fatal contagion. To escape
the scourge, Raymond Bonheur once more changed
his dwelling and established himself in the Rue du
Helder. Variable and impulsive by nature, the
painter delighted in change. He was barely in-
stalled in the Rue du Helder when he left the new
abode in order to move to Menilmontant in the
centre of a hotbed of Saint^imonism, the doctrines
of which he had enthusiastically espoused In 1833,

x-

we find him installed on the Quai des Ecoles. This
year a great misfortune befell the family: Mme.
Bonheur died and the painter found Mmsdf atone
and burdened with the responsibility of feeding,
tending, and bringing up four children, one of whom,
IsabeUe Bonheur, bom in 1830, was only three years
old.

It mm at tim time that Raymond Booteir be-
came anxious to have Rom, who was now eleven

20 ROSA BONHEUR

years of age, acquire some vocation. Inasmuch as
she had shown the most violent aversion to study
in every school she had attended, her father fancied
that perhaps business would be more to her taste.
Accordingly he apprenticed her to a dressmaker.
But the young girl showed no more inclination for
sewing than for arithmetic and grammar. At the
end of two weeks it became necessary to give up the
experiment,

Raymond Bonheur, who was absent all day long
giving lessons, was absolutely bent upon rinding
some occupation for Rosa. He made one last at-
tempt to send her to school; so he placed her with
Mrae. Gibert in the Rue de Reuilly. Rosa with
her boyish manners and her incorrigible turbulence
brought revolution into the peaceful precincts of
the pension. She engaged her new comrades in
games of mimic warfare, combats, cavalry charges
across the flower-beds of the garden which was re-
duced to ruins before the end of the second day.

ROSA BONHEUR 21

The principal in consternation returned the irre-
pressible amazon to her father.

The latter, in very natural despair, allowed Rosa
to stay at home, in the Rue des Tournelles, where
he was newly established and where he had fitted
up a studio. He even allowed the young girl free
entry to the studio and gave her permission to sketch.
She asked for nothing better. While her father
scoured the city on his round of lessons, she would
shut herself into the studio and work with desperate
energy, taking in turn every object hanging on the
walls for her models.

One day on returning home, at the end of his
day's work, Raymond Bonheur discovered on the
easel a little canvas representing a bunch of cher-
ries, a well drawn canvas and excellently painted
from nature. This was Rosa Bonheer's first paint-
ing; it bore witness to a genuine artistic tempera-
ment. Her fattier was delighted, but he hid his
pleasure.

22 ROSA BONHEUR

"That is not so bad," he allowed to Rosa. "Work
seriously, and you may become an artist."

This word of encouragement set the young girl's
heart to pulsing with emotion. Then it needed only
application and courage? She felt within her an
energy that nothing could rebuff and an ambition
that nothing could quench.

Rosa Bonheur had found her path.

THE FIRST SUCCESSES
Not long after this, a serious and determined
young girl might be seen in the halls of the Louvre,
copying with desperate energy the works of the great
masters. She wore an eccentric costume, consisting
of a sort of dolman with military frogs. It was
young Rosa Bonheur serving her apprenticeship to
art. The students and copyists who regularly fre-
quented the museum, not knowing her name, had
christened her "the little hussard." But the jests
and criticisms flung out by passing strangers in

PLATE III. THE HORSE FAIR
(National Gallery, London)

This painting is considered by some critics to be Roe* Bonhcur'*
masterpiece. There is no other painting of bers in whkh the
attained the same degree of power, or the same degree of tmth in
individual expression. What naturalness, and what vigour in this
drove of prancing horses, and what movement of those haunches
straining under the effort of the muscles !

ROSA BONHEUR 25

regard to her work, far from discouraging her,
only drove her to still more obstinate and persistent
study. The hours which she did not consecrate to
the Louvre, she spent in her fathers studio, multi-
plying her sketches and anatomical studies. Even
at this period she had already grasped instinctively
the truth formulated by Ingres, that "honesty in
art depends upon line-work." Few painters have
so far insisted upon this honesty, this conscientious-
ness, without which the most gifted artist remains
incomplete. Whatever gifts he may be endowed
with by nature, talent cannot be improvised; it is
the fruit of independent and sustained toi. Later
on, when she in her turn became a teacher, Rosa
Bonheur was able to proclaim the necessity of line-
work with all the more authority because it hoi
always been the fundamental basis, the very scaffold-
ing of all her works. "It is the true grammar of
art," she would affirm, "and the time thus spent
cannot fail to be profitable in tfae future."

26 ROSA BONHEUR

During this period of study, she was living in the
Rue de la Bienfaisance; her father's mania for chang-
ing his residence dragged her successively to the Rue
du Roule, and then to the Rue Rumford, in the level
stretch of the Monceau quarter, where Raymond
Bonheur, who had just remarried, installed his new
household.

At that time the Rue Rumford was practically
in the open country. On all sides there were
farms abundantly stocked with cows, sheep, pigs,
and poultry. This was an unforeseen piece of good
fortune for young Rosa, and she felt her passionate
love for animals reawaken. Equipped with her pen-
cils, she installed herself at a farm at Villiers, near
to the park of Neuilly, and there she would spend
the entire day, striving to catch and record the dif-
ferent attitudes of her favourite models. For the
sake of greater accuracy, she made a study of the
anatomy of animals, and even did some work in
dissection. Not content with this, she applied her-

ROSA BONHEUR 27

self to sculpture, and made models of the animals
in day or wax before drawing them. This is how
she came to acquire her dever talent for sculpture
which would have sufficed to establish a reputation
if she had not become the admirable painter that
we know her to have been.

Her special path was now determined: she would
be a painter of animals. She understood them, she
knew them, and loved them. But it did not satisfy
her to study them out-of-doors; she wanted them in her
own home. She persuaded her father to admit a sheep
into the apartment; then, little by little, the men-
agerie was increased by a goat, a dog, a squirrel,
some caged birds, and a number of quails that roamed
at liberty about her room.

At last, in 1841, after years of devoted teal, Rosa
ventured to offer to the Saba a fittle painting rep-
resenting Two Rabbits and a drawing depicting some
Dogs and Sheep. Both the drawing and the paint-
ing were accepted. It was an occasion of great

28 ROSA BONHEUR

rejoicing both for Rosa Bonheur and for her father.
The young artist was at this time only nineteen years
of age.

From this time forward, she sent pictures to the
Salon annually. During the first years her exhibits
passed unnoticed; but little by little her sincerity
and the vigour of her talent made an impression upon
the critics. The latter were soon forced to admire
the intense relief of her method of painting, living
animals transcribed in full action, and their different
physiognomies rendered with admirable fidelity and
art. But what labour it cost to arrive at this degree
of perfection! Every morning, the young artist made
the rounds of slaughter-houses, markets, the Museum,
anywhere and everywhere that she might see and
study animals. And this was destined to continue
throughout her entire life.

In 1842 she sent three paintings to the Salon:
namely, an Evening Effect in a Pasture, a Cow lying
in a Pasture, and a Horse for Sale; and in addition

ROSA BONHEUR 29

to these, a terra-cotta, the Shorn Sheep, which re-
ceived the approval of the critics. And no less praise
was bestowed upon her paintings, which showed a
talent for landscape fully equal to her mastery of
animal portraiture.

Her success was progressive. Her pictures in
the Salon of 1843 sold to advantage and Rosa Bon-
heur was able to travel. She brought home from
her trip five works that found a place in the Salon
of 1845. The following year her exhibits produced
a sensation. Anatole de la Forge devoted an enthu-
siastic article to her, and the jury awarded her a
third-class medal.

"In 1845," Rosa Bonheur herself relates, "the
recipients had to go in person to obtain their medals
at the director's office. I went, armed with all the
courage of my twenty-three years. The director of
fine-arts complimented me and presented the medal
in the name of the king. Imagine Ms stupefaction
when I replied: ' I beg of you, Monsieur, to thank

30 ROSA BONHEUR

the king on my behalf, and be so kind as to add that
I shall try to do better another time."'

Rosa Bonheur kept her word: her whole life was
a long and sustained effort to "do better." After the

Salon of 1846, where she was represented by five

' %
remarkable exhibits, she paid a visit to Auvergne,

where she was able to study a breed of cattle very
different from any that she had hitherto seen and
painted: superb animals of massive build, with com-
pact bodies, short and powerful legs, and wide-spread
nostrils. The sheep and horses also had a charac-
teristic physiognomy that was strongly marked and
noted with scrupulous care, and enabled her to re-
appear in the Salon of 1847 with new types that
gathered crowds around her canvases, to stare in
wonderment at these animals which were so obvi-
ously different from those which academic conven-
tion was in the habit of showing them.

The general public admired, and so did the critics,
It was only the jury that remained hostile towards

ROSA BONHEUR 31

this independent and personal manner of painting,
which ignored the established procedure of the schools
and based itself wholly upon inspiration and sin-
cerity; accordingly, they always took pains to place
her pictures in obscure comers or at inaccessible
heights. The public, however, which always finds
its way to what it likes, took pains on its past to
discover and enjoy them.

In 1848 Rosa Bonheur had her revenge. The
recently proclaimed Republic, wishing to show its
generosity towards artists, decreed that all works
offered that year to the Salon should without excep-
tion be received. As to the awards, they were to
be determined by a jury from which the official and
administrative element was to be henceforth banislied.
The judges were Leon Cogatet, Ingres, Dekooix,
Horace Vemet, Decamp, Rofeert-Fleary, Aiy Sdief-
fer, Meissooier, Corot, Paul Detoocfee, Jules Dupri,
Isabey, Drolling, Flandra, and Rtxpeplaii.

Rosa Bonheur exhibited six paintings and two

32 ROSA BONHEUR

pieces of sculpture, The paintings comprised: Oxen
and Bulls (Cantal Breed), Sheep in a Pasture, Salers
Oxen Grazing^ a Running Dog (Vendee breed),
The Miller Walking; An Ox. The two bronzes rep-
resented a Bull and a Sheep.

Her success was complete. Judged by her peers,
in the absence of academic prejudice, she obtained
a medal of the first class.

This year an event took place in her domestic
Me. As a result of recent remarriage, her father
had a son, Germain Bonheur. The house had be-
come too small for the now enlarged family; besides,
the crying of the child, and the constant coming
and going necessitated by the care that it required
seriously interfered with Rosa's work. Accordingly
she left her home in the Rue Rumford and took a
studio in the Rue de 1'Ouest She was accompanied
by MMe. Micas, the old-time friend of her childhood,
whom she had rediscovered, and who from this time
forth attached herself to Rosa with a devotion sur-

PLATE IV PLOUGHING IN THE NIVERNAIS

(Luxembourg Museum)

This painting shows the artist in the full possession of her vigor-
ous and unfaltering talent* The Luxembourg is to-day proud of the
possession of such a masterpiece. It testifies to Rosa Bonheufi
equal eminence as an animal painter and a painter of landscapes.

Ifi

ROSA BONHEUR 35

passing that of a sister, and almost like that of a
mother. She also was an artist and took a studio
adjoining that of her friend; several times she col-
laborated on Rosa's convases, when the latter was
over-burdened with work. After Rosa had sketched
her landscape and blocked in her animals, Mile.
Micas would carry the work forward, and Rosa,
coming after her, would add the finishing touch of
her vigorous and unfaltering brush. But to Rosa
Bonheur Mile. Micas meant far more as a friend
than as a collaborator. With a devoted and touch-
ing tenderness she watched over the material welfare
of the great artist, who was by nature quite indif-
ferent to the material thing? of life. It was the good
and faithful Nathalie who supervised Rosa*s meals
and repaired her garments. She was also a good
counsellor, and OB many different occasions Rosa
Bonheur paid tribute to the mteffigeooe and demo-
tion of her friend.

The resplendent successes of recent Salons had

36 ROSA BONHEUR

in no wise diminished Rosa Bonheur's ardent pas-
sion for study. In contrast to many another artist,
who think that there is nothing more to learn, as
soon as they become known, she persevered without
respite in her painful drudgery of research and
documentation.

Every day she covered the distance from the
Rue de POuest to the slaughter-houses in order to
catch some hitherto unknown aspect of animal life,
and to note the quivering of the wretched beast that
scents the blood and foresees its approaching death.

There was much that was disagreeable for a
young woman in this daily promiscuous contact
with butchers, heavy, tactless brutes, who frequently
insulted her with their vulgar and suggestive jokes.
She pretended not to understand, but nothing short
of her unconquerable passion for study would have
sustained her couraige.

Together with the success of recognition came
the success of prosperity. Rosa began to sell her

ROSA BONHEUR 37

paintings profitably. A certain shirt-manufacturer,
M. Bourges, who was also an art collector, acquired
a goodly number of her works; and after him came
M. Tedesco, the celebrated picture dealer, who was
a keen admirer of her talent. In 1849, the far reach-
ing renown of her Ploughing in the Niverncds
brought her the honour of making a sale to the
State, which acquired the celebrated painting for
the Museum of the Luxembourg, where it still
remains.

The subject of the picture is well known; in a
pleasant stretch of rolling country, bounded by a
wooded slope, two teams of oxen are dragging their
heavy ploughs and turning up a field in which we
see the furrows that have already been laid open.
The whole interest centres in the team in the fore-
ground. The six oxen which compose it, ponderous
and slow, convey a striking impression of tranquil
force: and from the different attitudes of the sk,
we perceive a progression in the degree of effort put

38 ROSA BONHEUR

forth to drag the plough. The first two move with a
heavy nonchalance that bears witness to the slight
contribution that they make to the task; the next
two, being nearer the plough, are doing more real
work; their straining limbs sink deeper into the earth
and their lowered heads indicate the greater tension
of their muscles. As to the last two, they are sus-
taining the heaviest part of the toil, as is apparent
from the way in which their muscles visibly stand
out, and from the contraction of their limbs gathered
under them in the effort to drag free the weight of
the ploughshare buried in the soil. It is only those
who never have witnessed the tilling of the soil who
could remain unmoved in the presence of such a
work. The oxen are admirable in composition, in
action, in modelling, and in strength. And what is
to be said of the landscape which is bathed in a dear,
bright light, flecked here and there with trails of
fleecy cloud?

It seemed that after such a picture, it would be

PLATE V,~QSSIAN*S DREAM
(Rosa Bonbetir Studio, Peyrol CoHection)

A fantasy by the great artist. During her visit to Scotland her
soul bad thrilled at the recital of poetk kfends ; and thia b cn^ <rf
theae dreamt that the has rendered in an inspired pafe, in which
she reveals her mattery of a type of *Qb$ect whkh she
only accidentally.

ROSA BONHEUR 41

o. I for Rosa Bonheur to rise to a greater

j :* perfection. Nevertheless, three years later

; /rited her Horse Fair, a remarkable achieve-

. Uch raised her while still living to the pin-

i s)* glory. The Horse Fair is not only the

masterpiece, but it is one of those produc-

>s < y-hich do the greatest honour to French paint-

u 1 Celebrated from the day of its first appearance,

> v canvas has steadily gained in the esteem of the

;, oriel i*f art and was destined to bring, even in our

wn times, the fabulous price attained by certain

paintings by Rembrandt, Raphael, and Holbein.

In preparation for her Horse Fez'r, Rosa Bonheur
betook herself daily to the spot where the fair was
held, ait having learned wisdom through the em-
barrassment of her experiences at the slaughter-house,
she assumed masculine garments, in order to attract
less attention. She formed the habit of assuming
them frequently from that time onward,
in her studio.

42 ROSA BONHEUR

In spite of its triumphal success, the Horse Fair
did not immediately find a purchaser and was returned
to the artist's studio. It was acquired later on by
Mr. Gambard, the great London picture dealer, for
the sum of 40,000 francs. ,

This celebrated canvas has a lengthy hutory
which deserves to be related.

In coming to terms with^ Mr. Gambard, Rosa

;>/.* " OJMrt, v

Bonheur, who was never avaricious, feared that she
had exacted too large a sum in demanding 40,000
francs. Since the purchaser desired to reproduce
the picture in the form of an engraving, and its dimen-
sions were so great as to hamper considerably the
work of the engraver, she offered to make Mr* Gam-
bard, without extra charge, a reduced re$ica of the
Horse Fear, one-quarter the original size.

Mr. Gambard, who was making an excellent bar-
gain, accepted with an eagerness that it is easy to
imagine. The reduced copy was delivered and was
immediately purchased by an English art fancier,

ROSA BONHEUR 43

Mr. Jacob Bell, for the sum of 25,000 francs. As
for the original, it was exhibited in the Pall Mall
gallery, but its vast dimensions discouraged pur-
chasers. It was at last acquired by an American,
Mr. Wright, at the cost of 30,000 francs, on condi-
tion that Mr. Gambard might retain possession for
two or three years longer, in order to exhibit it in
England and the United States. When the mo-
ment for delivery arrived, the American claimed
that he was entitled to a share of the profits result-
ing from the exhibition of the work. As a conse-
quence, the picture which was originally purchased
by Mr. Gambard for 40,000 francs, eventually brought
him in only 23,000, while the reduced replica, which
cost him nothing, brought him in 25,000 francs.
Considerably later, the American owner having met
with reverses, the Horse Fair was sold at public auc-
tion and was knocked down at $53,000 (265,000
francs) to Mr. VanderbUt, who presented it to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art.

44 ROSA BONHEUR

As to the reduced copy, the property of Mr. Jacob
Bell, the latter bequeathed it, together with his other
paintings, to the National Gallery, where it now is,
The reproduction which we give in the present volume
was made from this smaller copy.

When Rosa Bonheur learned that this reduced
replica was to find a place in the National Gallery,
she exhibited a scrupulousness that well illustrates
her honesty and disinterestedness. Since it was origi-
nally painted merely to serve as a model for the en-
graver, the artist had not given it the finish that
she was accustomed to give to her pictures. Ac-
cordingly, she set to work for the third time to paint
the Horse Fair, and bestowed upon it such conscien-
tious work and mature talent that in the opinion of
some judges this second replica is superior to the
original. When the canvas was finished, she offered
it to the London Gallery. The English authorities
were deeply touched by the scrupulousness of the
famous artist, and thanked her cordially, but explained

ROSA BONHEUR 45

that they felt themselves bound by the terms of the
Jacob Bell bequest, and consequently could not take
advantage of her generous offer. The work, never-
theless, remained in England, having been purchased

by a Mr. MacConnel for 2,500 francs.
*
After her immense success at the Salon of 1854,

Rosa Bonheur gave up her studio in the Rue de
1'Ouest, and installed herself in the Rue d'Assas, ki
a studio which she had had built expressly to suit
her needs,

THE YEARS OF GLORY

*

The new studio in the Rue d'Assas was very far
from bong a commonplace studio. It was situated
in the rear of a large court, and occupied the entire
rear building. It was an immense room, with a
broad, high window, through which a superb flood
of daylight streamed in; and from floor to ceiling
the walls were lined with studies, drawings, fetches,
rough essays in colour, that the great artist had

46 ROSA BONHEUR

brought back from her travels. So far, nothing the
least out of the ordinary. But what gave the estab-
lishment its picturesque and curious character was
the court-yard, transformed by Rosa Bonheur into
a veritable farm. Under shelters arranged along the
walls a variety of animals roamed at will: goats, heifers
of pure Bern breed, a ram, an otter, a monkey, a pack

of dogs, and her favourite mare, Margot. Mingled

' #

with the divers cries of this heterogeneous menagerie,

were the bewildering twitterings of an assortment
of birds, the clucking of hens, the sonorous quack-
quack of ducks, and dominating all the rest, the
strident screams of numerous parrakeets.

And all this was only one part of her menagerie;
the rest was domiciled at her country place at Che-
villy, where she also had another studio. Even in
the country Rosa Bonheur had no chance to rest.
She had now become celebrated, and the patrons of
art fought among themselves for her productions.
The two art firms of Tedesco in Paris and Gambard

ROSA BONHEUR 47

f

in London deluged her with orders; and, in spite of

her courage, she could hardly keep pace with them.

Her reputation had overleaped frontiers; she

was as celebrated abroad as she was in France. The

V- -.

city of Ghent, to which she had loaned the Hone
Fair for its exposition, demonstrated its gratitude
by sending her an official delegation headed by the
burgomaster himself, to present her with a jewel of
value.

Her talent was no longer open to question; every-
one agreed in recognizing it. The critics saw in her
far more than a conscientious and gifted artist; they
regarded her as the inspired interpreter of rural life.
"Hie work of Kosa Boaheur," wrote Anafcok de k
Forge in 1855, "migjit be entitled the Hymn to
Labour. Here sbe stiows us the tillage of the soil;
there, the sowing; further on, the reaping of the
hay, and then that of the gram; elsewhere the vin-
tage; always and everywhere, the labour of the field.
Man, under her inspired touch, appears only as a

48 ROSA BONHEUR

docile instrument, placed here by the hand of God
in order to extract from the bowels of the earth the
eternal riches that it contains. Also, in depicting
him as associated with the toil of animals, she shows
him to us only under a useful and noble aspect; now
at the head of his oxen, bringing home the wagons
heavily laden with the fruit of the harvest; or again,
with his hand gripping the plough, cleaving the soil
to render it more productive.'* And Mazure, writ-
ing at the same period, declared: "Next to the old
Dutch painters, and better than the early landscape
artists in France, we have in our own day some very
clever painters of cattle. They are Messieurs Bras-
cassat, Coignard, Palizzi, and Troyon, and more
especially a woman, Mile. Rosa Bonheur, who carries
this order of talent to the point of genius. Several
of them must be praised for the art with which they
work their animals into the setting of the landscape;
but if we consider the painting of the animals them-
selves, regardless of the landscape, and if what we

PLATE VL THE DUEL
(Collection erf Messrs. Lefvre,

This picture is one of the last tint Rota Bonhcur pointed. It It
celebrated in England because of the reputation of the two horses
who are engaged in this passionate duel, on which the artist
has expended all the resources of her marvellous talent.

7WT.SV 'W /Y >?,

/te& ;'<^''',%:
',' WW*' '' wj* "<

///;' A4r' ! '''''*l
'^g-V 1 ,;;!

^^;|^^

' :j ^%

ROSA BONHEUR 51

are seeking is a monograph on the labour of the fields,
nothing can compare with the artist whose name
stands last in the above list."^

Equally enthusiastic over her paintings was Mr,
Gambard, who supplemented his enthusiasm with a
very warm personal friendship for the great artist.
He had several times invited her to visit England;
in 1854 Rosa Bonheur made up her mind to take

i * . ,

the journey, accompanied by Mile. Micas. It proved
to be a triumphal journey. After a sojourn at the
Rectory at Wexham, with Mr. Gambard as host,
a sojourn marked by official invitations and deli-
cate attentions, Rosa Booheur made a bog excur-
sion into Scotland, accompanied by friends across
the Channel.

This cattle-raising tod stirred her to a passionate
interest. In the fields thitmgji which her route lay
cattle came into view from time to time; and liere-
upon the artist would have tlie carriage halted, and
take notes upon her drawing tablets. Each herd

52 ROSA BONHEUR

that was encountered meant a new halt and new
sketches. The great fair at FaUdrk, to which herds
were brought from every corner of Scotland, afforded
her a unique opportunity for observations and studies.
From morning until evening she plied her pencil
feverishly, accumulating material for future paint-
ings. At this same fair she purchased a young bull
and five superb oxen, to help complete her menagerie.
From this journey she brought back a number of
pictures of remarkable vigour and beauty. They
include a Morning in the Highlands, Denizens of
the Highlands, Changing Pasture, After a Storm in
the Highlands, etc., etc.

Rosa Bonheur returned to her studio in the Rue
d'Assas and immediately prepared her exhibits for
the Universal Exposition of 1855./ She was repre-
sented there by a Hay Harvest in Auvergne, which
brought her the grand medal of honour, j

From this time forward Rosa Bonheur ceased to
exhibit at the Salons. She believed, and not with-

ROSA BONHEUR 53

out reason, that her reputation had nothing more
to gain by these annual offerings, which interrupted
her more productive work. She had given herself
freely to the public; henceforth she sought only to
satisfy the demands of the patrons of art, who, in
daily increasing numbers, besieged her with their
orders. She worked chiefly for the English, who had
given her so warm a welcome, and who, perhaps, had
a better sense than the French have, of the beauty
of the life of the soil. The Frenchman, good judge
that he is in matters of art, duly admires a beautiful
work, regardless of its subject; he is able to appreci-
ate the composition of an agricultural scene, but,
being little inclined by nature to the work of the
fields, he will rarely fed a desire to adorn the
walls of his apartment with a Harvest Scene or
Grazing Cattle; he assumes that it is the business
of the museums to acquire pictures of this older.
The Englishman is quite different. As a landed
proprietor deeply attached to his ancestral acres,

54 ROSA BONHEUR

he appreciates paintings of rural life, less as an
artist than professionally, as a gentleman-farmer
who knows all the breeds of cattle and sheep and to
whom Rosa Bonheur's paintings were at this epoch
veritable documents, quite as much as they were
works of art.

In 1860, she gave up her studio in the Rue
A*- &*-
d'Assas, as well as the one at Chevilly, in order to

install herself at By, in the chateau of By which she
had purchased for 50,000 francs and in which she
had a vast studio constructed. Hither she trans-
ferred her imposing menagerie which had grown
year by year through new acquisitions. ^ It included
sheep, gazelles, stags, does, kids, an eagle, various
other birds, horses, goats, watch dogs, hunting dogs,
greyhounds, wild boars, lions, a yak (an animal
known by the name of the grunting ox of Tartary),
monkeys, parrakeets, marmosets, squirrels, ferrets,
turtles, green lizards, Iceland ponies, moufflons,
lizards, wild American mustangs, bulls, cows, etc.

ROSA BONHEUR 55

Rosa Bonheur worked with desperate energy in
the midst of her models and delighted in portraying
them in a setting of some one of those picturesque
and impressive vistas of the forest of Fontainebleau,
adjacent to her own residence. She was unremit-
tingly productive; yet France hardly heard her
name mentioned save as an echo of her triumphs
abroad. England has gone wild over her paint-
ings; and America was not slow in following suit*

But the echo was so loud, especially after the
Universal Exposition at London in 1862, that the
government three years later made her Chevalier of
the Legion of Honour. Rosa Bonheur has given her
own account of the event:

"In 1865," she writes, "I was busily engaged
one afternoon over my pictures (I had the Stags at
Long-Rocker on my easel),' when I heard the eradmg
of a postillion's whip and the nimble of a carriage.
My little maid FeHcite entered the studio in great
excitements

56 ROSA BONHEUR

"' Mademoiselle, mademoiselle! Her Majesty the
Empress!'

"I had barely time to slip on a linen skirt and
exchange my long blue blouse for a velvet jacket,

" * I have here/ the empress told me, ' a little gift
which I have brought you on behalf of the Emperor.
He has authorized me to take advantage of the last
day of my regency to announce your appointment
to the Legion of Honour.'

" And in conferring the title, she kissed the newly
made Chevalier and pinned the cross upon my velvet
jacket. A few days later I received an invitation to
take breakfast at Fontainebleau where the Imperial
Court was installed. On the appointed day, they
sent to fetch me in gala equipage. On arriving, I
mistook the door and was about to lose my way,
when M. Mocquard came to my rescue and offered
his arm to escort me. At breakfast, I was placed
beside the Emperor and throughout the whole repast
he talked to me regarding the intelligence of animals.

ROSA BONHEUR 57

The Empress afterwards took me for an excursion on
the lake in a gondola. The Prince Imperial, who
had previously called upon me at By, accompanied
us. This visit to the Court greatly interested me,
but I think that I must have been a disappointment
to Princess Metternich who amused herself with
watching my every movement, expecting no doubt
to see me commit some breach of etiquette."

In acknowledgment of the distinguished honour
she had received from the Emperor, Rosa Bonheur
felt that she was in duty bound to be represented at
the Universal Exposition of 1867. Accordingly, she
sent no less tlwi ten remarkable works: Donkey
Drivers of Aragon, Pomes From the Me of S%e,
Sheep on the Seashore, A Ship, Oxen md Corn,
KMs Resting, A Shepherd in Bwrn, The Rimw f etc.

All that she obtained was a medal of the second
dass. The judges owed her a grudge because of her
keg select of twelve years. There could be no
question of disputing her talent, but tfaqr resented

58 ROSA BONHEUR

her having employed it solely for the benefit of Eng-
land. The critics showed her the same coldness,
courteous but unmistakable. In some of the articles,
she was referred to as Miss Rosa Bonheur. Some
little injustice was intermingled with this show of
hostility; Troyon was exalted at her expense; and
her animals were criticized as being "purplish and
cottony." Furthermore, they reproached her with
the fact that all the pictures exhibited were owned
by Englishmen, with the single exception of the Sheep
on the Seashore, which was the property of the
Empress.

It is necessary here to open a parenthesis and
refer to a period in the life of the great artist which
should not be passed over in silence: the period of her
art school. For this purpose we must turn back to
the year 1849. At that time Raymond Bonheur who,
as we know, gave drawing lessons, was directing a
school of design for young girls, situated in the Rue
Dupuytren. One year after his appointment as direc-

PLATE VIL TI0BR8
(Rosa BcmJkcur Studio, at By)

Roea Bonbeur ipent entire day* in the Jar din dea Planter, or in
menageries in order to catch the attitude! and the mobik physiog-
nomies of th beasts of prey. Accordingly no otbar attbt bat
attained such perfect truth, as ii ibown IB the tiger* here pcrtrajred

ROSA BONHEUR 61

tor, Raymond Bonheur died and the direction of the
school was instructed to Rosa, who enlisted the aid
of her sister, also a painter of some talent, who was
subsequently married to M. Peyrol.

Rosa Bonheur fulfilled her duties with much
devotion and intelligence. She herself had too high
a regard for line-work to fail to bring to her task as
teacher all of her ardent faith as an artist. She
divided the scheme of instruction into two series,
one of the great studies of animals and the other of
little studies. Rosa Bonheur was not always an
agreeable teacher; she made a show of authority,
not to say severity. She would not excuse laziness
or negligence, and when a pupfl showed her a draw-
ing that was obviously done in a hurry she would grow
indignant:

"Go back to your mother, 1 * she would say, " and
mend your stockings or do embroidery work***

But this pedagogical rigour was promptly offset
by a return of her natural kindlii^as, a jesting word.

62 ROSA BONHEUR

a pleasantry, an affectionate term intended to pre-
vent the discouragement of a pupil who often was
guilty of nothing worse than thoughtlessness.

Under her firm and able guidance, the school
achieved success. Many of her graduate pupils at-
tained an honourable career in painting, and if no
name worthy of being remembered is included among
the whole number, the reason is that genius cannot
be manufactured and that it was not within the
power of Rosa Bonheur to give to her young pupils
something of herself.

In 1860, the great artist, being overburdened with
work and unable to carry on simultaneously the
instruction and practice of her art, resigned her posi-
tion as director, f The school passed into the hands
of Mile. Maraudon de Monthycle, who won distinc-
tion as a director, but did not succeed in making the
name of Rosa Bonheur forgotten.

The time of her retirement as professor of the
school of design coincides with that of her installation

ROSA BONHEUR 63

at By. After having in a measure obeyed the pater-
nal tradition of repeated removals, she was this time
definitely established. It was destined to be her
last residence; and it certainly was an attractive
place, that great chateau of By, with its broad win-
dows and its original style, which called to mind cer-
tain dwellings in Holland. And what a delightful
setting it had in the shape of the forest of Fontaine-
bleau, so varied in aspect, so rich in picturesque
comers, so alluring with the beauty of its dense
woodlands, and the poetry of its open glades!

Rosa Bonheur was always passionately enamoured
of nature, of the entire work of creation, Sic adored
neither more nor less than she loved beauti-

ful trees and broad horizons; she went into ecstacic
before the splendour of the rising sun wtskii day by
day brings a renewed thrill of life to all things and
creatures; aid it was equally OIKS of her joys to watch
the diffused light spreading softly through a misty
haze over the slumbering earth.

64 ROSA BONHEUR

Rosa Bonheur had no sooner withdrawn to the
solitude of By than she sought, as we have already
seen, to become forgotten, in order to devote herself
exclusively to the innumerable tasks which incessant
orders from England and America demanded of her.
She planned for herself a laborious and tranquil exist-
ence, rendered all the pleasanter through the devoted
and watchful affection of her old friend, Mile.
Nathalie Micas, who lived with her. We have seen
that she came out of her voluntary obscurity in 1867
to the extent of sending a few pictures to the Uni-
versal Exposition. From this date onward she ceased
to exhibit, and no other canvas bearing her signature
was seen in public until the Salon of 1899, which was
the year of her death.

Relieved of all outside interruption, Rosa Bonheur
worked with indefatigable energy. Yet she could
hardly keep pace with the demands of her pur-
chasers, who were constantly increasing in number
and constantly more urgent. Her paintings had

ROSA BONHEUR 65

acquired a vogue abroad and brought their weight
in gold. Certain pictures brought speculative prices
in America even before they were finished and while
they were still on the ease! at By. At this period,
it may be added, everything which came from the
artist's brush possessed an incomparable and mas*
terly finish. Never a su^estion of weakness in design
even in her most hastily executed canvases* I must
at once add that hasty canvases are extremely rare
in the life work of Rosa Bonheur; she had too high
a sense of duty to her art and too great a respect for
her own name to slight any necessary work oa a
canvas. Certain pictures appear to have been done

rapidly solely because the artist possessed among

'

her portfolios fragmentary studies made from nature

and drawn with scrupulous care, and all that she
needed to do was to transfer them to her canvas.

From the host of works that the artist put forth
at this period, we may cite; 1865, Changing Pasture,
A Family cf Roebuck; 1867, Kids Resting; 186S,

66 ROSA BONHEUR

Shetland Ponies; 1869, Sheep in Brittany; 1870,
The Cartload of Stones.

The war of 1870 brought consternation to her
patriotic soul. She suffered cruelly from the ills
which had befallen her country. Generous by nature
and a French woman to her inmost fibre, she did her
utmost to relieve the suffering that she saw around
her as a result of the Prussian invasion. She spoke
words of comfort to the peasants and aided them
with donations, distributing bags of grain that were
sent to her by her friend Gambard, at this time
consul at Odessa.

One day a Prussian officer of high rank presented
himself at her home in the name of Prince Karl-
Frederick, The latter, who was a confirmed admirer
of the artist, whom he had met in former years, sent
her an order of safe-conduct which would place her
and her belongings beyond the danger of any annoy-
ance. Rosa Bonheur ran her eye over the paper
and in the presence of the officer tore it into tiny

ROSA BONHEUR 67

pieces. Nobly and amply the great artist refused
to accept any favours, feeling, in view of the exist-
ing painful circumstances, that it would be a shame-
ful thing for her to do. A French woman before aH
else, she submitted in advance to all the abuses and
exigencies of the conquerors. On another occaskm t
a German prince came to By, to pay his respects,
She refused to receive him. We should add that the
Prussians, whose excesses and brutalities were so
frequent during that campaign, had the wisdom not
to meddle with Rosa Bonheur.

After the treaty of peace was signed, she set
herself eagerly to work once more* "I was occu-
pied at tiiat time," she wrote, "in studying the big
cats; I made sketches at the Jardin des Plantes, In
the circuses, in the menageries, anywhere and every-
where that I could find BOBS and penthers,"

This is the epoch fka whkh dates that

aeries of wild beasts in which Roea Bonheor manifests
a power of expression and virility of execution that

68 ROSA BONHEUR

she never before had occasion to display, and that
seem absolutely incredible as coming from the brush
of a woman. No other painter has rendered with
greater truth and force the undulous and elastic
movements of the panther or the tiger; Barye him-
self, in his admirable bronzes, has never endowed
his lions with greater life or more majestic grandeur
than Rosa Bonheur has done. The latter, with her
astounding memory and with an eye as profound
and luminous as a photographic lens, caught and
retained the most fugitive expressions on the mobile
physiognomy of the great cats. She noted them
down with rapid and unfaltering pencil; the paint-
ing of the picture after this was a mere matter of
execution. Is there any finer presentment of the
tranquil beauty of a lion in repose than The Lion
Meditating? Beneath the royal mane, his features
have a haughty placidity and his eyes a serene intent-
ness that are admirably rendered. The Lion Roar?
ing is possibly even more beautiful, because of the

PLATE VIIL TRAMPUMG THE GRAIN
(Roftft Bonbeur Studio, it By)

This work, whkh wat bcr last, is one of the most beanttffcl of al
that Rosa Bonlwm 1 p^tod l>ecmtme ol ttie tutelar o tht HMW*
ment whkh sweep* the horse* in a superb IteaAmf ruah, over the
teapcd-ttp gimia which they trample under fool. Tto apieadid
canvas remadnB unfinished, death having overtiiken the t>bte artart
before the final totichcs had been

ROSA BONHEUR 71

difficulty which the artist had to overcome in catch-
ing the peculiarly rapid and mobile expression which
accompanies the act of roaring. Under the effort of
his tense muscles, the mane rises, bristling, around
the powerful neck and above the straining head.
There is nothing cruel in the physiognomy of this
lion: his roaring is not the cry of the beast of prey
scenting his victim, but the call of the desert king,
saluting the rising orb of day or the descending night
The artist has admirably expressed this difference
in a foreshortening of the head which Correggk> or
Veronese might have envied her.

' In all the anim^ls that she painted, and she
painted nearly all the animals there ait, Roa
Bonheur succeeded in reproducing their separate
characteristic expresskxis, "the amount of soul which
nature 1ms bestowed upon them," M. Roger Miles,
the excellent art critic, from wtiom nt tare fre-
<Hieat!y borrowed m the comic of tim biography,
expresses it in the following admirable manner:

72 ROSA BONHEUR

"Through the infinite study that she made of
animals, Rosa Bonheur reached the conviction that
their expression must be the interpretation of a soul,
and since she understood the types and the species
that her brush reproduced, she was able, through an
instinct of extraordinary precision, to endow them,
one and all, with precisely the glance and the psychic
intensity that belongs to them. She takes the ani-
mals in the environment in which they live, in the
setting with which their form harmonizes, in short,
in the conditions that have played an essential part
in their evolution, and she records with inflexible
sincerity what nature places beneath her eyes and
what her patient study has permitted her to under-
stand. It is more especially for this reason, among
many others, that the work of Rosa Bonheur de-
serves to live, and that the eminent artist stands
to-day as one of the most finished animal painters
with which the history of our national art is
honoured."

ROSA BONHEUR 73

In the peaceful and laborious atmosphere of By,
the years slipped happily away. But before long
a cloud came to darken this serenity. The health
of her tenderly loved friend, MUe. Micas, began to
decline; the doctor ordered a southern dimate. Rosa
Bonheur did not hesitate; she had a vula built at
Nice, and every year, during the winter, the artist
accompanied her beloved invalid to the land of sun-
shine. These annual changes of climate and the
care with which Rosa Bonheur surrounded her friend
certainly delayed the fatal issue. But the disease
had taken too deep a hold. Mfle. Micas passed
away on the 24tib of June, 1889. "This loss broke
my heart," wrote the artist "It was a long time
before I could find in my wA mj rdkf ferns my
bitter pain. I think of her every day and I bless
the memory of that soul which was so closely ia tooeb
with my own.*

F*om that day onward, Rosa Booteir teamc a
prey to melancholy, and her thoughts turned cease-

74 ROSA BONHEUR

lessly to the tender friend whom she had lost forever.
None the less, she continued to work with dogged
energy, quite as much to deaden her pain as to satisfy
the ever increasing orders.

A great joy, however, came to her in the midst
of her sorrow. President Camot, imitating the Em-
peror, came in person to bring her the Cross of Officer
of the Legjon of Honour. She was keenly appreci-
ative of such a mark of high courtesy, which was at
the same time a weH deserved recompense for an
entire life consecrated to art. Rosa Bonheur pos-
sessed a number of decorations, notably the Cross
of San Carlos of Mexico which was given her by
the Empress Charlotte, the Cross of Commander
of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, the Belgian
Cross of Leopold, the Cross of Saint James of Portu-
gal, etc. The noble artist accepted these distinc-
tions gratefully, but was in no way vain of them, for
no woman was ever more simple or more modest
than she*

ROSA BONHEUR 75

At about this epoch, she devoted herself for a
time to pastel work, and in 1897 exhibited four ex*
amples of ample dimensions and representing vari-
ous animals. The whole city of Paris flocked to this
exhibition and unanimously proclaimed her talent
as a pastel painter.

It was also about this time that she gained a
new friend whose devotion, although it did not make
her forget her beloved Nathalie Micas, at least in
a measure softened the bitterness of her lorn. A
young American, Hiss Anna Kkaoapfce, wto mm
an enthusiastic admirer of Rosa Bonheur, and who
herself had some talent for painting, presented to-
self one day at By and begged tlie favour of m tote-
view with the artist The latte recaemsd feer witli
her wonted graciousness. The conversation turned
upon art The young ri m$xMxxig&> toy tar
hostess's kindness, ventured to ask if she migiit
come to take a few lessons, and at the same time
showed a few sketches. Rosa Booheur examined

76 ROSA BONHEUR

them and discovered not merely promise, but what
was better, an unmistakable talent. She not only
acquiesced to Miss Klumpke's desire; she did even
better, she offered the hospitality of her own home.
Miss Klumpke's visit, which was to have been for
only a short time, became permanent; a substantial
friendship was formed between the two women; it
was Miss Anna Klumpke who closed the eyes of
Rosa Bonheur and who was her sole testamentary
legatee. She has piously preserved the memory of
her benefactress and she has converted the Chateau
of By, which she still occupies, into a museum filled
with relics of the great artist. She has also pub-
lished an admirable volume upon the life and work
of her eminent friend, that forms a veritable monu-
ment of affectionate admiration.

f
Rosa Bonheur was not slow in reverting again

to painting and produced her famous picture: The
Dud, the celebrity of which was almost as great as
that of the Horse Fair and Ploughing in the Niver~

ROSA BONHEUR 77

nd$. The duel in question is between two stallions,
and what adds to the interest of the scene is that
it is historic and perfectly familiar to all the sport-
ing men of England. It was a struggle in which
an Arabian thoroughbred, Godolphin-Arabian, over-
powered Hobgoblin, another thoroughbred of Eng-
lish breed. The mettle of these horses, fired by the
heat of battle, is interpreted in a masterly fashion.

No less perfect is the canvas representing The
Threshing of the Grain, which it took Rosa Bonheur
twenty years to bring to completion. Over a fieM
in which the sheaves of grain have been strewn*
eleven horses, drawn life-size, are driven at Mi
gallop, trampling the golden tassels under tbek
powerful hoofs. The artist lias rarely attained tbe
height of perfection to which this pctere bears
witness,

' But at last we come to the dose of to catcer.
Rosa Bonheur was seraity-iii years of age,
in ifae enjoyment of robust !iealttr ber tatat

78 ROSA BONHEUR

retained its unvarying power and her hand was still
firm. Her age was not betrayed in any of her works,
which had the appearance of having been painted in
the flood-tide of youth. Such is the impression of
critics before her painting,/ ,4 Cow and Bull in Au-
vergne, Cantd Breed, which, contrary to her habit,
she sent to the Salon. The praise was unanimous;
they even talked of awarding her the medal of honour
which she refused in a letter of great beauty and
dignity. It seemed at that time that the artist would
enjoy her robust old age for a long time to come,
when a congestion of the lungs prostrated her sud-
denly and the end came in a few days. She died
on the 25th of May, 1899^

The concert of regrets which greeted her death
was touching in its unanimity. Without a dissent-
ing note, without reserve, the entire press paid tribute
to the dignity of her life, the nobility of her charac-
ter, the greatness of her talent. According to her
desire, she was interred in the cemetery of Pere-

ROSA BONHEUR 79

Lachaise; and the cortege which followed her coffin
was made up of every eminent figure known to the
Parisian world of art and letters. Strangers came
in throngs, especially from England. And this in-
numerable cortege that followed her bier testified
more eloquently than any panegyric to the goodness
of this admirable artist who had been aHe to lead a
long and glorious career without creating a single
enemy.

I

11

Ill

CD

2453